Amazon Is Investigating After Anti-Vaxxer Leaflet Is Found Hidden in Children’s Book

Lucy Boyle, from Hamshire, recently purchased a copy of Ali Sparkes’ children’s book Night Speakers for her 12-year-old son’s birthday in early April. However, she and her son were surprised to discover that, hidden in the pages of the book, was a leaflet warning readers about the supposed dangers of vaccinations. The discovery has since prompted Amazon to launch an investigation into how and when the leaflet was added into the book, and by whom.

Boyle told The Guardian that her son “got a few pages in, turned over the page and there was the leaflet.” The leaflet claims that the HPV vaccine that’s being offered in schools can cause “injury, infertility, paralysis … ovarian failure and death, amongst other conditions.” The truth is that the jab protects against human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes most strains of cervical cancer. Routine HPV vaccinations of 12 to 13-year-old girls was introduced in the UK in 2008, there has since been a steep decline in the cervical disease that can lead to cancer.

Boyle said her son “came downstairs saying: ‘What is this, isn’t this the jab I’m going to have at school?’ He was worried as he had read the leaflet and knew he was going to have the jab.”

“I was just about to bin it when I thought: ‘Hold on a minute, that was quite targeted, it will have been put knowingly into a book read by 11- to 14-year-olds,'” she said. “That’s not targeting the parents, that’s targeting the children. It really left a bad taste in my mouth.”

Boyle contacted both Amazon and Oxford University Press, the book’s publisher, and spoke to an Amazon executive customer relations manager. He apologised and promised that the company would launch an investigation into how the leaflet was included in the book, as well as offering a gift card. In an email, an Amazon representative wrote to Boyle: “I am very sorry to hear about the negative experience you have had with the order for your son. Especially considering this was a children’s book and he is due to receive the vaccine soon.”

While this is the first known instance of an anti-vaxx leaflet being slipped into an Amazon product, it’s not the first time that customers have received unexpected notes from emplyee’s. In 2017, a note was included in an Amazon parcel to a Jewish customer which read: “Greetings from Uncle Adolf.” In 2018, another customer received a note with a parcel which read: “Please help, Amazon is painful!”

Amazon has stated that it has checked its facilities but can find no evidence that the leaflet was inserted into the package on Amazon owned property. Oxford University Press is also looking into the situation and said it does not believe the leaflet came from its end. A spokesperson said it was “not OUP promotional material, nor was its insertion authorised by us. Furthermore, our warehouse staff adhere to the highest levels of security such that they meet the standards set by the aviation industry. We are not aware of any other instances of external leaflets being inserted into our books.”

“It may just be one leaflet in one book, or someone may have leafleted that whole batch of books … I don’t see what Amazon can do if a worker goes in with a bunch of leaflets. What’s the upshot, that every worker is monitored? That all gets a bit Big Brother,” said Boyle.

This news comes following reports last month that revealed Amazon appears to be supporting anti-vaxx charities in the US via its AmazonSmile Foundation. In March, chair of the House intelligence committee, Adam Schiff, wrote to Amazon’s chief executive, Jeff Bezos, to voice his concern that “Amazon is surfacing and recommending products and content that discourage parents from vaccinating their children,” He cited a CNN Business report which found anti-vaccine books dominated Amazon search results for the term “vaccine.”